9 July 2016 – ASTRO-WEATHER – The Big Dipper’s familiar shape lies high in the northwest as darkness falls these July evenings. One of the summer sky’s finest double stars marks the bend of the Dipper’s handle. Mizar shines some six times brighter than its companion, Alcor.

In the West, Jupiter now shines to the Moon’s lower right during & after dusk.

491 AD – Deathday of Cyrillus, a Greek jurist of the 5th century; professor & founder in the ancient Law School of Berytus (present-day Beirut), which preceded the succession of Anastasius to the Eastern empire & paved the way for Justinian’s legislation

869 – A magnitude 8.6 earthquake & subsequent tsunami strikes the area around Sendai in the northern part of Honshu, Japan. Death toll unknown

1793 – The Act Against Slavery in Upper Canada bans the importation of slaves & frees those who are born into slavery

1807 – The Treaties of Tilsit are signed, on a raft in the middle of the Neman River, by Napoleon I of France & Alexander I of Russia.

1815 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord becomes the first Prime Minister of France. The name “Talleyrand” has become a byword for crafty, cynical diplomacy; some believe that he was a traitor, betraying in turn the Ancien Régime, the French Revolution, Napoleon, & the Restoration.

1816 – Argentina declares independence from Spain. July 9 Avenue, located in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the widest avenue in the world

1848 – Deathday of Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege, He is considered the father of analytic philosophy, where he concentrated on the philosophy of language & mathematics; responsible for the development of modern logic. Though largely ignored during his lifetime, Giuseppe Peano & Bertrand Russell introduced his work to later generations of logicians & philosophers

1850 – U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies after eating raw fruit & iced milk, to be succeeded by Millard Fillmore

1868 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship

1896 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In the address, Bryan supported bimetallism or “free silver”, which he believed would bring the nation prosperity. He decried the gold standard, concluding the speech, “you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold”. Bryan’s address helped catapult him to the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination; it is considered one of the greatest political speeches in American history.

For twenty years, Americans had been bitterly divided over the nation’s monetary standard. The gold standard, which the United States had effectively been on since 1873, limited the money supply but eased trade with other nations, such as the UK, whose currency was also based on gold. Many Americans, however, believed that bimetallism (making both gold & silver legal tender) was necessary for the nation’s economic health. The financial Panic of 1893 intensified the debates, & when Democratic President Grover Cleveland continued to support the gold standard against the will of much of his party, activists became determined to take over the Democratic Party organization & nominate a silver-supporting candidate in 1896.

Bryan had been a dark horse candidate with little support in the convention. His speech, delivered at the close of the debate on the party platform, electrified the convention & is generally credited with getting him the nomination for president. However, he lost the general election to William McKinley & the United States formally adopted the gold standard in 1900

1903 – Future Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is exiled to Siberia for three years

1918 – In Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express, killing 101 & injuring 171 people, making it the deadliest rail accident in United States history

1937 – The silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation are destroyed by the 1937 Fox vault fire.

1943 – The Allied invasion of Sicily soon causes the downfall of Mussolini & forces Hitler to break off the Battle of Kursk

1956 – The 7.7 Amorgos earthquake triggers a destructive tsunami that affects the Aegean Sea. The mainshock was followed minutes later by a damaging 7.2 aftershock. 555 people were killed & 100 were injured.

1958 – A 7.8 strike-slip earthquake in Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reached 1,722 ft .Due to the remote location, only 5 people were killed

1962 – Starfish Primetests the effects of a nuclear test at orbital altitudes, it produces an artificial radiation belt in space

1986 – The New Zealand Parliament passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act legalizing homosexuality in New Zealand

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One of my daily meditations:

“I carry Peace within me; I bear within myself forces giving me strength. Full will I fill myself with the warmth of these forces; I will drench myself with the power of my will; and I will feel how peace outpours itself thru all my being, as I strengthen myself to come upon peace as a force within me thru this my striving power.” ~Rudolf Steiner, Guidance in Esoteric Training

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I always get a little squirrely around the time of my natal return. And this year I enter my 3rd moon-node, which carries a wallop, so I am striving to move thru this time as consciously as possible, opening to insight & grace. Perhaps today I’ll just start with some basics on The Phases of Human Life sourced from ‘The Human Life’ by George & Gisela O’Neil.

The life of the human being fundamentally unfolds in 3 main phases of development (bear in mind that the ages can vary for each individual, but the phases remain, so don’t get stuck on the numbers):

Body: maturing until age 21

Soul: emotional/psychological stability building up until around age 42

Spirit: potential spiritual maturity after age 42

These 3 groups can be divided into 7 year growth phases – (the ending or transition of each can be especially intense & challenging, as I am currently discovering):

Bodily Development – 0-21yrs – The ultimate goal is to Awaken to Ego or ‘I’ awareness

Soul Development – 21-42yrs – Awakening the Eyes of the Soul – The Transformative Years (the fight years)

21-28yrs – Birth of the ‘I’ within the sentient soul. Learning: Experience becomes the primary urge

28-35yrs – Birth of the ‘I’ within the intellectual soul, also called the rational/feeling soul. Learning: Confronted by the realities of the world here we are struggling with ideals & necessities (31-33 are called ‘The Christ Years’ when we really ‘carry our own cross’ & take ourselves on)

35-42yrs – Birth of the ‘I’ within the consciousness soul. Learning: How to activate the will; sensing our own identity; ‘nothing happens anymore unless I make it happen.’

Spiritual Development – 42-63yrs – Awakening Our Spiritual Eyes – Gaining Wisdom (Notice I use the word potential alot, as I believe not every human being strives for these)

56-63yrs – Potential spirit-man unfolding. Learning: That we must awaken to love & commitment to others; working as a healing force in communities. Role Modeling – ‘The world is filled with Wisdom’

63-until death – ‘Years of Grace’. Freedom to Be- To serve humanity – Sharing the fruits of our life’s work – ‘The world is creative, AND, this is not all there is’

Of course the earlier phases continue to work into the later phases, building on them, filling them out with experience & the wisdom gained.

Along with the O’Neil’s amazing work, I have dipped into Bernard Lievegoed’s book ‘Phases: The Spiritual Rhythms of Adult Life’ & a compilation of lectures on Biography from Rudolf Steiner put out by Steiner Press as ‘Biography: Freedom & Destiny, Enlightening the Path of Human Life.

It’s interesting to look at the connection between illness & biography. And also to see how not just human beings, but all the phases of human evolution, seen throughout the epochs, are reflected in the birth, maturation & death of civilizations & nations.

I am struck by the fact, that some human beings don’t have the inner strength to develop their true potential. They never really leave adolescence, so they aren’t able to truly bring in their ego or ‘I’ forces. Perhaps this is what we are seeing reflected in society today in the form of impulsiveness & a propensity toward violence.

When we bring our conscious intention into focus, we can guide the forces that rest within us as potentials, into action. And when those forces are activated by our attention they can give us strength. Does that make sense?